Every have a bad toothache?
Just because there are not strong applicants does not mean you allow negative behavior to exist in your school.
Here is an example.
Just recently I was on a coaching call with a leadership team when they began to describe the behavior of a staff member as being toxic to their culture. Just being mean, not following school expectations, making their teammates feel uncomfortable.
When I asked them why are they still working there they shared, “well, there are not too many good candidates right now.” Then they justified it with, “Their scores are really good and We won’t be recommending them for renewal.”
I asked if they had ever had a toothache, a bad cavity or infection?
“Oh yes,” they replied.
“And when you went to the dentist did they say, well, it still chews just fine, let’s give it another six months and see how it’s doing then.” Or did he say, "This needs to be repaired immediately or the infection will spread, you may lose the tooth and need a root canal.”
You may not have an apparent performance problem as you do a values alignment problem with your people.
I believe that values are the glue that holds a team or organization together.
Values act as the compass to give direction and guidance.
Values provide stability for the organization to grow on.
Values act as a magnet, attracting like minded people.
Values are an identity. They define WHO the team is.
When your values align with your team’s values everyone becomes more valuable.
A team or organization may be rich with talent but might be lacking aligned values. This may come out in the “toxic” behavior I described earlier, or when people are saying nice things about the school, and about each other, but get them alone in a room and they quickly begin to badmouth their team and leader.
The leader is having a difficult time gaining traction and movement on critical issues. Certain team members are “doing their own thing”. Staff meetings are a checkmark. Teachers have their phones and laptops out answering emails, searching for new jobs, or planning a vacation.
The only people engaged are the ones with like-minded values…or the rule followers!
They see their teammates not engaged. They become resentful. They expect the leader to do something. To say something. To fix the problem.
The lack of congruency with the set values may be known by the leader, but are being addressed due to the “current results” or “current job market”.
The toxicity increases. The decay goes deeper and deeper into the infection.
The team, seeing no movement by the leader, will lose faith and trust in the leader.
They pay no mind to the bad behavior of others.
That lack of congruency will eventually lead to separation.
Make no mistake about it…something or someone is going to go.
And it is not typically the teacher.
That's why I am leading a training on how to lead and communicate with difficult people.
It's a framework that is easy to learn and implement and will root out the discord and decay that lives in your hallways.
Register by clicking the link below.
https://www.leaders-building-leaders.com/difficultconversations
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